The REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals) legislation was introduced on 1st June 2007 and aims to control human and environmental risk from exposure to chemicals across the European Union. The first phase of registration of chemical agents was completed in December 2010.
Due to the paucity of exposure data, a tiered approach is used to determine the risk of exposure to chemicals, with a great reliance on conservative screening models for exposure assessment. Several 1st tier exposure models are recommended by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) for estimating occupational exposure; however, to date none of these models have been extensively evaluated and compared.
The Evaluation of Tier 1 Exposure Assessment Models under Reach ("eteam") project, sponsored by the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), aims to compare and contrast the different REACH Tier 1 exposure assessment models in terms of their determinants, scope of application, functionality and user-friendliness.
The models to be evaluated are:
An international Advisory Board has been appointed and will be providing objective scientific advice to the project, overseeing timescales and deliverables and making available workplace exposure data for use in the model validation process.
The project started on 1st October 2011 and will run for a duration of 18 months.